Our Team

Meet the professionals in the Crux Capital sphere

Daniel Hoffer

General Partner

+ BIO

Prior to co-founding Crux Capital, Daniel Hoffer was a Partner at Tandem Capital, Sr. Director in Concur’s venture fund team, co-founder and CEO of CouchSurfing, and EIR at Benchmark Capital. He also held executive product roles at Norton (Symantec) and TripIt (Concur/SAP). Daniel has appeared on the cover of Inc. Magazine and been featured on the front page of the Boston Globe, as well as on ABC Nightline, NBC News, National Public Radio, and in the New York Times and Time Magazine. He has also been a guest lecturer at Stanford GSB, Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management, and the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Business School.

Lev Mass

General Partner

+ BIO

Lev Mass is a Partner at Crux Ventures where he focuses on AI, digital commerce and fintech. He was previously a Venture Partner at XSeed Capital. He loves helping early stage entrepreneurs make an impact on the world. Prior to XSeed, he was the COO of the Cloud Group at Yahoo in Sunnyvale, CA and helped to co-founded Hortonworks, a leading big data company. In addition, Lev co-founded Actively, a pioneering startup in the patient adherence space. Prior to this, Lev was in the Technology, Media and Telecom Investment Banking Group at Thomas Weisel Partners, and began his career at Black and Veatch.
Lev is also active in many social ventures including UNICEF, TEDx, and the UC Berkeley Skydeck incubator.
Lev received his BS from the University of Kansas and dual-MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and from Columbia Business School at the Columbia University in City of New York. He enjoys traveling with his wife Celia and supporting social ventures that promote cross-cultural understanding.

Jonathan Lowenhar

Special Advisor

+ BIO

Throughout my 20 year career, I’ve successfully built a $1B business segment for a large public company, guided the turnaround of a distressed $100M+ revenue business, launched and sold a venture-backed startup, and led the rise of one of the world’s fastest growing B2B SaaS businesses. I have co-founded companies and led initiatives across predictive analytics, big data, loyalty marketing, SaaS, Fintech and enterprise mobile.
Today I lead ETW Advisors, a firm that helps early companies to launch, young businesses to grow, and maturing enterprises to reach scale. I’ve helped raise more than $200M in capital from seed stage through growth, and since 2012, valuations for my clients have risen more than 10x, with multiple companies approaching rarified unicorn status. My mission is to serve founders, and my experience allows me to give back to those early stage companies that bring new technological art to the world.

Rajani Ramanathan

Advisor

Brian Camposano

Advisor

Shant Sood

Advisor

“
Dan is thoughtful, helpful, genuine and sharp… engaging him was the most positive and impactful decision we made in our entrepreneurial journey.
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—
Lukasz (Lucas) Kafarski, CEO at Realine

“
Dan is high-energy, open minded, straight-forward and great to have around… I can’t imagine where we’d be without his mentorship and support. If you ever get the chance to work with Dan, do not miss out.
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Danny Yunes, COO at Realine

“
Dan is incredible… I can't describe how lucky I am to have Dan on our team and how great he has been... He knows what he's doing, he's humble, and he's all around fantastic.
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Jeremy Smith, COO at Spot Hero

“
Dan has awesome knowledge around creating hit products... because he's done it before! Plus he is a super nice guy. You'd want him in your corner.
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Rahul Chitrapu, CEO at Instaread

“
Dan has been incredibly helpful in helping us navigate through the complexities and bureaucracies of partnering with large corporations… Dan is very transparent, honest, and efficient – exactly what I seek… He's incredibly accessible and truly cares about helping us succeed.
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Tyler Dikman, CEO at LoungeBuddy

“
Dan has been a terrific mentor… He has a keen mind, a good heart and some very strong relationships that he's always willing to use to help… even after 5 years we still call to talk to him about challenges and issues we are dealing with.
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Rakesh Tondon, CEO at Le Tote Inc.

“
Dan is a rare breed. His style of thoughtful, creative collaboration leads to not just great counsel, but to tangible advice you can immediately implement. He always 'gets it’. I share my most difficult problems with Dan and he has come through every time.
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Daniel Burrows, CEO at XStream

“
Dan is amazing… He's a straight shooter so if he feels something is not right, he will tell you, in a very sincere way…He's meticulous in maintaining a network that is both dynamic and relevant…If you have a chance to work with him, do not hesitate.
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Kensi Wang, CEO at Traction Labs

“
Daniel has been an incredibly value-added and strategic investor to us at Happie. He's accessible - always willing to roll up his sleeves and help with feedback, key insights, and introductions. He's also a super good guy, so I love working with him.
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Jennifer Fremont-Smith, CEO and Founder at Happie.me

“
Lev has been instrumental in helping with product and sales strategy. He is always willing to introduce us to customers through his extensive network. He truly cares about helping us succeed. I recommend Lev highly and would work with him again in a heartbeat.
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Dave Mariani, CEO at AtScale

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Lev is always there to help us creatively solve problems. Lev has a very extensive network and is always willing to roll up his sleeves. He always helps us navigate the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. I hope you get a chance to work with him as well!
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“
Lev is an outstanding professional with expertise in creating business opportunities and connecting the right people from his vast network. He is committed to helping companies grow and we always could rely on him for support whenever needed. I highly recommend him.
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